The Nate Oats coaching tree is set to add another branch.

Alabama men’s basketball assistant coach Ryan Pannone is expected to be hired as the next head coach of Arkansas State, sources with knowledge of the situation told AL.com. Pannone has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Crimson Tide.

The Red Wolves job became vacant because former Alabama assistant Bryan Hodgson left for South Florida. Hodgson coached under Oats at Buffalo and then Alabama through the 2022-23 season. Then Hodgson left Tuscaloosa to become the head coach at Arkansas State.

Red Wolves vice chancellor of intercollegiate athletics Jeff Purinton has Alabama connections; he spent 15 years with the Crimson Tide, working in multiple jobs, which ended with him as executive deputy director of athletics before Purinton took the top job at Arkansas State.

Pannone becomes the fifth former Oats assistant to take a Division I head coaching job. He joins Hodgson, Charlie Henry (Georgia Southern), Antoine Pettway (Kennesaw State) and Austin Claunch (UTSA).

Pannone, a Clearwater, Florida native, has spent the past two seasons primarily running the Alabama offense with Adam Bauman, the director of scouting & analytics. A season ago, en route to the first Final Four in program history, the Crimson Tide offense ranked No. 2 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom. This season, it ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Prior to joining Oats’ staff at Alabama, Pannone coached all over the country and the world. He spent the 2022-23 season serving as an assistant coach in the NBA for the New Orleans Pelicans. Prior to that, he was the G League head coach of the Birmingham Squadron/Erie BayHawks from 2019-22.

Pannone also spent time coaching in Jerusalem, China, Germany, Slovakia and more places.

Pannone is known for being a basketball film junky. When he’s not coaching basketball, he’s often cutting up film or watching it.

Oats will now need to hire another assistant coach to fill Pannone’s role for the 2025-26 season. Alabama still has assistant coaches Preston Murphy and Brian Adams on staff.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for Follow him on X and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.